Being kind to someone who is rude or aggressive is a perfect way to practise the balancing act of being kind to yourself and to another person at the same time.

Recently I have been working on a project with a group of writers, communicating by email. One man asked a flurry of questions, in a very angry way.

I responded patiently, complimenting his work, being sensitive to the fact that sharing your creations can make you feel vulnerable. But his emails got increasingly rude.

His messages made me feel really awful, until I asked myself why I was enduring this? It wasn’t kind to either of us to allow this to continue.

I emailed him and let him know (very gently) that I didn’t feel we had been communicating well and I wondered if it might be better if we stopped working on this together.

He replied saying he didn’t think there was a problem, but has been very polite and calm since. So we got our happy ending!

Tweet your kindness adventures #BeKind, and follow writer and performer Bernadette at Bernadette Russell or @betterussell

Read more: Why you should #BeKind on public transport